Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Vandals on the straight and narrow

“We’re playing a cruise ship with the Offspring and the Buzzcocks."

The Vandals no longer eat their lunch alone.
The Vandals no longer eat their lunch alone.

Orange County proto-punkers the Vandals haven’t had a new member since 1989. Joe Escalante joined shortly after the band formed in 1980.

Past Event

Ye Scallywag!

  • Saturday, October 21, 2017, noon
  • Waterfront Park, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego
  • $50 - $199

“If you told me back then I’d still be playing in my 50s I would have thought that would be undignified and embarrassing,” says Escalante, who started with the Vandals as a drummer and switched to bass. “It’s kinda turned into a decent business where old bands can play with new bands. It’s a lot more dignified.”

While not as big as Social Distortion or Bad Religion, the Vandals were certainly part of the early-’80s SoCal punk onslaught. All four members have day-jobs. They haven’t released a new album since 2003 but they gladly replay their early punk hits.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“I think we first played San Diego in 1982 at Wabash Hall. After we had our first big radio hit on 91X we opened for the Stranglers at Adams Avenue Theatre. Those are the early days of our shows with bands like Circle Jerks, Social Distortion, and Angry Samoans. Most were promoted by Tim Mays.”

Video:

The Vandals - "And Now We Dance" (Live in Iraq)

That first big hit was “Urban Struggle,” the punk anthem that railed against wannabe ranch-hand posers who “listened to cowboy tunes and stomped around like a bunch of goons.”

For 35 years I’ve wanted to know if that song that ended with the line “I couldn’t make it as a punker” was actually a slag against local '70s punk pioneers the Dils who became the cowpunk band Rank and File.

It was not. “We knew the Dils but we didn’t even know they had changed their style when we wrote that tune. At the time we never even knew there was such a thing as cowpunk.”

Escalante says the song was inspired by the abuse endured by patrons of Costa Mesa punk mecca Cuckoo’s Nest by the cowboy posers who frequented the next-door cowboy bar named Zubies.

“In high school we were plagued by hippies. They hated our music and there were fist fights every day at school.... And then at the Cuckoo’s Nest we were always called ‘punk faggot’ in the parking lot and a fist fight would always break out. The cops were always on the side of the cowboys. In their mind the cowboys were preserving American society and the punks were trying to destroy it.”

One of the Vandals songs was "The Legend of Pat Brown,” about a Vandals fan who Escalante says ran over a couple of cops. “He went to jail and was pretty badly beaten in the head. He was never the same.... Back then if you were a punk in high school you ate lunch by yourself and you’d have food thrown at you. You knew you would never get a cute girlfriend. Today if you’re a punk rocker you eat lunch with the cheerleaders.”

Old punkers are getting new work.

“We’re playing a cruise ship with the Offspring and the Buzzcocks that leaves Miami in April. We turned it down three years in a row. But the money [offers] got better each year. We finally said, ‘Okay.’”

Escalante writes for TV shows like History Channel's Ancient Aliens, singer Dave Quackenbush owns a liquor-distribution company, drummer Josh Freese is a professional drummer now finishing a European tour with Sting, and guitarist Warren Fitzgerald writes for film and TV.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Next Article

Coyote tracks in frail San Diego avocado grove

Second place winner in Reader neighborhood writing contest
The Vandals no longer eat their lunch alone.
The Vandals no longer eat their lunch alone.

Orange County proto-punkers the Vandals haven’t had a new member since 1989. Joe Escalante joined shortly after the band formed in 1980.

Past Event

Ye Scallywag!

  • Saturday, October 21, 2017, noon
  • Waterfront Park, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego
  • $50 - $199

“If you told me back then I’d still be playing in my 50s I would have thought that would be undignified and embarrassing,” says Escalante, who started with the Vandals as a drummer and switched to bass. “It’s kinda turned into a decent business where old bands can play with new bands. It’s a lot more dignified.”

While not as big as Social Distortion or Bad Religion, the Vandals were certainly part of the early-’80s SoCal punk onslaught. All four members have day-jobs. They haven’t released a new album since 2003 but they gladly replay their early punk hits.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“I think we first played San Diego in 1982 at Wabash Hall. After we had our first big radio hit on 91X we opened for the Stranglers at Adams Avenue Theatre. Those are the early days of our shows with bands like Circle Jerks, Social Distortion, and Angry Samoans. Most were promoted by Tim Mays.”

Video:

The Vandals - "And Now We Dance" (Live in Iraq)

That first big hit was “Urban Struggle,” the punk anthem that railed against wannabe ranch-hand posers who “listened to cowboy tunes and stomped around like a bunch of goons.”

For 35 years I’ve wanted to know if that song that ended with the line “I couldn’t make it as a punker” was actually a slag against local '70s punk pioneers the Dils who became the cowpunk band Rank and File.

It was not. “We knew the Dils but we didn’t even know they had changed their style when we wrote that tune. At the time we never even knew there was such a thing as cowpunk.”

Escalante says the song was inspired by the abuse endured by patrons of Costa Mesa punk mecca Cuckoo’s Nest by the cowboy posers who frequented the next-door cowboy bar named Zubies.

“In high school we were plagued by hippies. They hated our music and there were fist fights every day at school.... And then at the Cuckoo’s Nest we were always called ‘punk faggot’ in the parking lot and a fist fight would always break out. The cops were always on the side of the cowboys. In their mind the cowboys were preserving American society and the punks were trying to destroy it.”

One of the Vandals songs was "The Legend of Pat Brown,” about a Vandals fan who Escalante says ran over a couple of cops. “He went to jail and was pretty badly beaten in the head. He was never the same.... Back then if you were a punk in high school you ate lunch by yourself and you’d have food thrown at you. You knew you would never get a cute girlfriend. Today if you’re a punk rocker you eat lunch with the cheerleaders.”

Old punkers are getting new work.

“We’re playing a cruise ship with the Offspring and the Buzzcocks that leaves Miami in April. We turned it down three years in a row. But the money [offers] got better each year. We finally said, ‘Okay.’”

Escalante writes for TV shows like History Channel's Ancient Aliens, singer Dave Quackenbush owns a liquor-distribution company, drummer Josh Freese is a professional drummer now finishing a European tour with Sting, and guitarist Warren Fitzgerald writes for film and TV.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Celebrate Holi, Borrego Springs Music Festival

Events March 23-March 27, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.